Quinn v. Roach

326 F. App'x 280
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 4, 2009
Docket08-40633
StatusUnpublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 326 F. App'x 280 (Quinn v. Roach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Quinn v. Roach, 326 F. App'x 280 (5th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

FORTUNATO P. BENAVIDES, Circuit Judge: *

This civil suit stems from the arrest of the plaintiff-appellant, John Quinn (“Quinn”), for the alleged sexual assault of his daughter, Katie Quinn, when she was a young child, and the subsequent fifteen-month delay in the presentation of his criminal case to the grand jury. Quinn filed suit against Collin County, Texas; the Collin County District Attorney and a number of assistant district attorneys (together, “the District Attorney Defendants”); the City of McKinney, Texas; and the city police officer who secured the arrest warrant, Detective Jose Quiles. 1

The claims in this case can be divided into two groups: (1) those dealing with the initial arrest; and (2) those dealing with the subsequent fifteen-month delay in the presentation of the case to the grand jury. Quinn’s claims against Detective Quiles and the City (together, the “City Defendants”) relate to the procurement of the arrest warrant. Quinn sued Quiles and the City under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating Quinn’s right to be free from unreasonable seizures under the Fourth Amendment and right to due process and equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, for malicious prosecution under state and federal law, and for false arrest and imprisonment and various forms of negligence under state law. Quinn’s claims against Collin County, the Collin County District Attorney, and the assistant district attorneys (together, “the County Defendants”) relate to the fifteen-month delay in the presentation of his case to the grand jury. Quinn sued the County Defendants under § 1983 for violating his right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment and his right to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and for negligence under state law. Quinn sought money damages against all of the defendants-appellees, as well as in-junctive relief against the County Defendants.

Both the County Defendants and the City Defendants filed motions to dismiss all claims under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and Detective Quiles also filed a motion for summary judgment on all claims against him. With regard to Quinn’s claims relating to the procurement of the arrest warrant, the district court held: (1) that he had failed to state an equal protection claim because he was not a member of a protected class; (2) that he had failed to state a claim for malicious prosecution under federal law because no such freestanding claim exists; (3) that any federal-law claims against Quiles in his official capacity were duplicative of the federal-law claims against the City and should therefore be dismissed; (4) that Quinn had failed to state a claim against Quiles in his official capacity under state law because any such claims were barred by sovereign immunity; (5) that he had failed to state a claim against the City for negligence because such a claim was barred by sovereign immunity; (6) that Quiles was entitled to summary judgment on the issue of quali- *283 fíed immunity from Quinn’s claims under § 1983 on the grounds that Quiles’s determination of probable cause was objectively reasonable and Quinn was not deprived of any procedural due process rights; and (7) that Quiles was entitled to summary judgment on the issue of official immunity from Quinn’s state-law claims because Quiles’s actions in procuring the arrest warrant were discretionary, made in good faith, and made within the scope of his authority.

The district court dismissed all of Quinn’s claims relating to the fifteen-month delay in the presentation of his case to the grand jury, holding: (1) that the delay did not violate any of Quinn’s constitutional rights; (2) that the District Attorney Defendants were protected by qualified immunity and prosecutorial immunity from being sued in their individual capacities, and by Eleventh Amendment immunity from being sued in their official capacities, for their actions in handling the criminal case against Quinn; (3) that Quinn had failed to allege the existence of an “official policy” that could subject the County to liability under § 1983; and (4) that Quinn lacked standing to seek injunc-tive relief because he had failed to allege a likelihood of a future violation of his rights.

Quinn appeals the district court’s holdings that Quiles enjoyed qualified and official immunity; that there is no federal cause of action for malicious prosecution; that the City enjoyed sovereign immunity; that the fifteen-month delay did not violate Quinn’s constitutional rights; that the District Attorney Defendants enjoyed qualified, prosecutorial, and Eleventh Amendment immunity; and that Quinn did not have standing to pursue injunctive relief.

For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM.

I. Background

Quinn and his former wife, Laurie Houston, divorced in 1991. Quinn was awarded custody of their two children, but one of them, Quinn’s daughter Katie, went to live with Houston at some point. On July 15, 2004, Katie, who was sixteen at the time, told her mother that Quinn had been sexually abusing her since she was eight years old. Earlier that day, Katie had been arrested for shoplifting, and Katie and her mother were discussing Katie’s arrest when Katie stated that she had been abused by Quinn. During that conversation, Katie attempted suicide, and she was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, Joy Turner, a nurse, performed an admission assessment on Katie. During the assessment, Katie stated that Quinn had sexually abused her beginning when she was eight years old and ending when she was twelve. Turner reported the allegations of abuse to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Child Protective Services Division (“CPS”). On July 21, 2004, Dawn Todd of the Denton County Children’s Advocacy Center conducted a videotaped interview with Katie. In the interview, Katie stated that her father had engaged in sexual intercourse with her on two separate occasions, once when she was eight years old and once when she was nine or ten years old.

On July 30, 2004, Detective Quiles received a written notification of the alleged abuse from CPS (the “CPS intake report”) and a copy of the videotaped interview conducted by Todd. Quiles viewed the videotape of the interview on August 9, 2004. On August 12, Laurie Houston met with Quiles and provided Quiles with a written statement regarding the events of July 15, 2004, including Katie’s claim that Quinn had been sexually abusing her since she was eight years old. Houston also stated that Quinn was an alcoholic and a *284 flight and suicide risk. On the same date, Quiles asked Houston to provide him with a copy of Katie’s medical records. On August 31, 2004, Beth Hudson, a registered nurse, performed a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (“SANE”) examination on Katie. On September 2, 2004, Quiles received an affidavit from Joy Turner, the nurse who had performed the admission assessment on Katie at the hospital, recounting Katie’s statements to her that her father had abused her from ages eight to twelve.

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Bluebook (online)
326 F. App'x 280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quinn-v-roach-ca5-2009.